Drunken driver denied parole in 2001 death

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Pardons Board refused to release an inmate in need of a kidney transplant who is serving time for killing a bicyclist while driving drunk.

The board took the action Tuesday in the case of Erik Randall, 33, who pleaded guilty in the 2001 death of 28-year-old Francisco Sanchez in Incline Village.

Randall was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison for DUI causing death, and another four to 10 years for hit and run. He has three years left to serve on the sentences that are running consecutively.

Randall's lawyer Richard Cornell asked the board to make the sentences concurrent, which would allow the release of his client and save the state the cost of dialysis while he is in prison.

"He has a serious kidney ailment that requires dialysis or transplant soon," Cornell said.

Five state Supreme Court justices and Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto voted against the pardon, saying serving out the sentence was part of Randall's recovery from alcoholism.

Justice James Hardesty and Gov. Jim Gibbons voted to grant it.

Sanchez, the father of two children, was thrown more than 200 feet when he was struck from behind by Randall's Ford Bronco.